OESE was formed in the wake of a public battle over the efforts
of the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee to insert disclaimers in
any textbook that mentioned evolution.

"There have been bills introduced almost every year since 1999
for legislation that would allow teaching creationism in science
courses; OESE has opposed all such attempts," reads the
organization's Web site.

It was expected that someone would protest Dawkins' appearance,
but unexpected that that protest would result in a $5,000 donation
to OESE.

Dawkins is a British scientist known for authoring several books
championing evolution and criticizing religion. Hutchison expected
there would be some opposition to Dawkins' appearance, scheduled
during several weeks of events to commemorate the anniversaries of
Charles Darwin's birthday and publication of Darwin's On the Origin
of Species.

During the 10 days previous to Dawkins' appearance, the
university hosted no less than three speakers from the Discovery
Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that criticizes the theory of
evolution and supports the theory of intelligent design.

The three speakers - John West, William Demski and Casey Luskin -
were sponsored by the local student chapter of the IDEA (Intelligent
Design and Evolution Awareness) Club.

"The IDEA Club is an officially recognized student organization,"
said Hutchison. "The university has academic freedom. …